Reviewing Random Films For Fun

June 17, 2015

The Ox-Bow Incident #MovieReview

Film 205 in the “1001 Films to See Before You Die” challenge is 1943’s “The Ox-Bow Incident”. This William A. Wellman western crime drama is based on Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s novel of the same name and is about a group of townsfolk from somewhere in Nevada who are after criminals who stole all the cattle. At least that’s what it says online. I had no idea what was going on throughout. No one appears to have a name. Men, apparently, think cows and women are the same thing. Everyone is talking so fast you feel like the film is stuck on fast-forward. Three minutes into the film, I was already getting bored. Ten minutes later and that boredom turned into tiredness. All I got out of it was that someone just killed a man, everyone’s after him and no one wants the “out of hours” sheriff to get involved while the actual sheriff is in another part of the country. Also, as someone who hasn’t drank any, whisky makes you puke after half a shot. Either whisky is strong or the actor/character can’t hold his drink. Overall, this is a boring film with nothing happening. In 2012, Terrence Rafferty from The New York Times had this to say, “The Ox-Bow Incident is all buildup… It’s like watching a long fuse burn.” I feel like watching a fuse burn is more fun than this film. Fun Fact of the Film – Henry Fonda regarded this film as one of his favourite films that he had ever made. If you have seen this film then let me know what you thought of it in the comments. Here is what I had to say while watching 1943’s “The Ox-Bow Incident”

Film – The Ox-Bow Incident
Year – 1943
Director – William A. Wellman
Written by – Lamar Trotti
Based On – “The Ox-Bow Incident” by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Staring – Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes
IMDb Rating – 8.1/10
My Rating – ZZZzzzzz
Length – 72 min (1h 12min)
Genre – Crime, Drama, Western
It’s Nevada in 1885
Two men on horses arrive at a small town saloon
Bit of an odd painting to have in a saloon
All we have is whiskey
I’m already bored and we’re only 3 and a half minutes in
Two more men arrive and drink
No one wants to talk about the missing cattle… or their wives? – They flip-flop on the topic
Erm… Why did they fight?
5 whiskey shots later and he’s puking
Someone runs into the saloon in a hurry – Must have some news
He does. He says someone had been shot in the head
Who exactly is the sheriff here?
I’m falling asleep
I have no idea what anyone is saying
I did just hear the word “cock”
The dead man is Larry Kincaid and everyone argues about how to get the murderer
Losing interest very quickly
I have no idea who anyone is but two men visit the judge at his home
I have one name, Carter
Hi Butch… Bye Butch
ZZZzzzzz